Disclaimer: IZ does not belong to me.

Okay, I'm gonna confess right now: When I published this story, I had no idea where it was going. So I'm gonna wrap it up in the next... three or four chapters. Sorry.

He was tired. Heavy sedation does that to you. So he wasn't sure whether or not the being in front of him -who so much resembled his big-headed old friend- was real. Already he had awoken after heavier and heavier sedation, and each time he woke back up, barely able to think or even keep his eyelids open. Even so, he wasn't quite able to tell reality from fiction yet. Which leads us back to the point of this paragraph: That he had no idea whether or not the Dib in front of him was a hallucination or not.

"Dib?" Zim asked, sounding too tired and weak for his own good.

The human in front of him gasped dramatically, jumping up and hugging the Irken tight, "ZIM! It really is you! I thought it might have been some sort of elaborate trap but it's NOT! You're really here! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have yelled at you! These people are nuts!" Dib kept spouting words, half of which had no meaning and the other half being apologies.

Zim, meanwhile, was trying not to scream out in pain.

Once the human let go, he finally set about cutting Zim's restraints, "I really am sorry, by the way."

"Uh-huh," Zim noted, "I believe that," The short, almost nonchalant responses were created out of exhaustion caused by the sedatives rather than lack of sincerity.

Dib frowned, "Hey, I mean it," By some miracle, he was able to remove all four handcuffs. The Irken dropped down to the floor, hitting the metal ship's deck with a gentle thud. Dib placed one of the green arms on his shoulder, allowing Zim a crutch. The Irken, with little other choice, took it.

Dib aided Zim as they limped down the corridor. Well, Zim limped. Dib just hunched over slightly due to the slight height difference. As they moved, Dib briefed him on the situation, leaving out multiple details that may have been important. Or not, "...and your parents are waiting for us outside," He finished. The Irken suddenly stopped, causing Dib to pull away slightly. Not enough to lose contact, but enough for the Irken to lose his crutch, falling to the floor. Dib tried in vain to stop the fall, only to collide with the metal flooring himself. Both groaned.

"Are you nuts?" Zim groaned, standing. Dib went to help him and was promptly waved off, "Why would you go to my parents for help? They hate humans!" Zim paused, "Well, Paternal Unit does, at least."

"Believe it or not, they came to me," Zim blinked at Dib as he explained the fight with Gaz and the unorthodox arrival of Zim's parents.

By the end of the explanation, Zim was glaring at the older child, "That's something you might want to mention FIRST, Dib-brains."

"Sorry," Dib muttered again. At this point, the word 'sorry' had lost all meaning to either of them.

The cell-block was not heavily guarded, but the ship's captain had probably not anticipated a young human boy to break into her ship and rescue her only prisoner, an even younger Irken boy. Then again, most people would assume Dib's big head was just for show and that Zim was a normal human boy with a skin condition. Humans are stupid. Irkens, as it turns out, are not much more intelligent.

The guard came and made his rounds. What he saw chained up in the cell was a small figure with two dropping antennae, looking downward, his body hidden by the shadows. He nodded and walked away. The real Zim and Dib jumped down from the ceiling, nodding. Behind them, the dummy, made from a bound and gagged Irken guard who had the misfortune of crossing this area first, squealed and squirmed in a futile attempt to get free. For his size and strength, Zim certainly could tie a tight knot.

They raced down the pathway, reaching a doorway that was password protected. Before Dib could make any attempt to hack the door, Zim tore him away, claiming they'd never guess the password, especially since it was in Irken. Instead, they moved further down, where a single guard sat in a desk, asleep. A slight, startling snore, and the two confirmed that it was safe. It also brought their attentions to the garbage chute behind the desk. Zim climbed into it.

"Wait, you mean we really have to-?" Dib flinched at the smell coming from it. It reminded him of socks and tuna and chasing Gir. None of which were pleasant things to image. Zim, with an eye-roll, grabbed the human by the hand and pulled him down the chute. Dib screamed. Zim just sat their, neutral, completely concentrated on escape. So when they reached the bottom, Zim just flew out and landed on the ground. Dib, screaming, flew out and hit his face on a tree.

"Aha, nice one," Zim commented, his eyes half-lidded and his smirk all smirky.

Dib frowned as he attempted to regain his dignity and glared at Zim. Before the two could do anything, though, they were interrupted by a loud, accented cackle off to the side. The sound of it make Zim's antennae flatten, which in turn signaled Dib to glare at the source. Another Irken stepped out from behind the shadows.

"You!" Zim glared, "You sedated me and told me nonsense!"

"She's the captain of this ship?" The only person dumb enough to ask this question was Dib.

Zim snorted, "Duh, Dib-smell! You can clearly see the difference in uniform!"

To the average human, with the average eyesight, the uniforms had no physical difference. And remember, as Dib wears glasses, his eyesight is less than average, so the mistake was he had made, though inconceivable to an Irken, was one any human would have made. Even though Dib is smarter than the average monkey, even he wasn't perfect.

The captain, meanwhile, rolled her eyes, "Sheesh, and THIS is the smart one?" She cleared her throat, "but yes, I am the captain of this ship. Captain Tak of the Doomed. A pleasure to make your acquaintence."

"Well, not an honor for us,"Zim responded.

"Not you two idiots," She snapped back. Her eyes, a bright purple, were pointed at a nearby bush, "The two- three- four of of you can come out now!" Almost hesitantly, Purple, Red and Gaz, carrying Gir, stepped out of the bushes. The two Irkens glare at the other, as if it's some sort of secret greeting. Gaz just stands there, holding Gir, being angry at the world. Because that's just who she is.

Tak's mouth twitched as a smirk took it's shape upon her face, "So nice of you to join us, my Tallest..."

And thus, the secret is revealed! Shorter chapter, dumber quality, but I'm really not in any mood to care. Be happy I'm updating at all.